Friends?
by Meiwriter
Summary: Roger has a very interesting request for a 10-year old Mello to fulfill. "I want you to be friends with Near" ...Sure enough, this task will not be easy.


_**Disclaimer: I do not own death note **_

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><p><strong>Friends?<strong>

_Chapter 1_

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><p>Mello felt extremely irritable (more so than usual), and the constant stares being directed at him from the other children were not helping.<p>

The feeling of eyes burning holes into the back of his head had basically become a daily occurrence, there were times when the blonde wondered if somebody secretly drew on his face while he was asleep.

Turning, he glared coldly at one of the girls located near the right of him from the corner of his eye and couldn't help but smirk vaguely in satisfaction as she flinched and hastily turned away.

He continued to walk down the hallway, trailing behind the numerous orphans, and began to devise a way to sneak into the kitchen and restock on his chocolate supply. Nevertheless, his scheming mind faltered slightly when he noticed an unusually large amount of people gathering around the bulletin board, and was suddenly reminded that the rankings of the orphanage had been posted. A certain white haired albino flashed into the back of his mind and the previous smirk that played against his lips were quickly replaced with a grimace.

He had never beaten Near , not once in the years he had known him. What annoyed him the most about this was how he studied his ass off while the other decided to play alone with his toys. Near was two years younger than him, and beat him without doing much of anything, and Mello hated it.

He began to push his way through the large crowd of people he glanced at the list test scores with a scowl edged on to his face. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of his remaining chocolate bars and snapped a piece off between his teeth. With a slight feeling of dread, he lifted his eyes up to the top of the list and locked on to the names in bold.

1. Mello  
>2. Near<p>

The chocolate bar slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor.

"Holy...shit"

For a moment, all he could do was stand there and stare. Mello reached up and slid his hand over his name.

He had beaten him.

He had beaten **Near.**

He had **beaten **Near.

...

"HALLELUJAH! I DID IT!"

Ignoring the growing number of stares being placed on him, he hastily ran into the classroom and scanned the premises for Near. When the albino was nowhere to be seen, Mello lips twitched downward momentarily. However he would not let this ruin his sweet victory, so he sat down and decided to wait for Near, figuring that he was still in the playroom putting together one of his blank puzzles.

Strangely, he never showed.

**...**

Half the day had passed, and Near was still nowhere in sight, Mello felt his previous mood of drunken happiness slowly simmer down into a light feeling of content.

Matt walked over to him, balancing his lunch tray in his arms as he rapidly tapped away on his DS. When he reached their table, the redhead diverted his attention away from his device momentarily and gave Mello a quick pat on the back, with a slight smile tugging on his lips.

"Congrats, you finally beat him"

Mello smirked, feeling his ego flare and replied with an air of confidence  
>"It was bound to happen eventually"<p>

"Uhuh..."  
>The redhead stuffed his nose back into his game and tuned out the arrogant ramblings of his friend.<p>

Mello pulled out another chocolate bar and was going to proceed with taking a bite out of it when Roger walked over to him.

" Mello, may I speak to you?"

The blonde narrowed his eyes at him, but followed him anyway, quickly scanning his memory for anything that he could have done to get him into trouble.

They went into his office, and Mello watched suspiciously as Roger closed the door and turned back towards him with an uneasy expression. He bit into his chocolate bar and tried to place the recognizable emotion in saw flash by the older man's eyes.

" I want you to become friends with Near"  
>Mello choked, eyes widening unnaturally.<p>

"WHAT?"

Roger winced at his loud voice and warily glanced back towards the closed door.

" He doesn't really have a lot of people he can talk to Mello, I think it's best if he gains somebody to socialize with"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he, become friends with his ultimate rival?

Mello scoffed at the idea.

"Just go and ask Linda if you're going to request something stupid like that"

"I think that he would be more comfortable if you did this"

Mello frowned,"I don't understand, he HATES me"

Roger shook his head , a slight sigh escaping from his lips.

"You are the only one doing the "hating" . To be honest, you would be surprised by what he actually thinks of you, just attempt this please?"

Mello crossed his arms stubbornly and scowled

"No way"

Suddenly, Roger's pleading look fell off of his face and was replaced with a threatening glare

"Do it or I will handcuff you to him"

The 10 year old boy visibly paled for a moment, before rolling his eyes and muttering the a quick "fine" and exiting the room.

He glared back darkly at the office door once he was a safe distance away.

**...**

Mello had positioned himself just outside of the playroom door, and began to contemplate over how the hell he would even talk to, much less become "friends" with Near.

He peered hesitantly into the room, checking to see if his rival.. er ...soon to be friend was there.

Sure enough, he was , slowly piecing together another one of his puzzles one by one. Mello shifted uncomfortably and took a step towards the opening of the door, before quickly pulling his foot back into place.

How the frick was he supposed to go about this?

_"Hey Near! I just wanted to know.. do you wanna be my friend?"_

That would go well with him.

In the midst of his dilemma, a dreadfully familiar voice spoke up from the playroom.

"I can hear you, If you have something to say then please just come in here"

Mello froze, and then scowled heatedly at the entrance of the room, mentally kicking himself for getting caught.

He glanced back at the hallway and weighed his options, before awkwardly stepping inside the room (because no way in hell was he running away from somebody like Near), and they instantly locked eyes.

Suddenly, it was a staring contest, with both of them trying to penetrate each other's thoughts and look past their facades. A pair of Icy blue daggers clashed against an intense wall of grey.

They held their position for a few moments, until Near looked away, making Mello tilt his head slightly in confusion, wondering why the younger boy had given up so easily.

He moved closer to the albino, and looked over his shoulder as he worked on the picture-less puzzle, watching with slight envy as he effortlessly placed each white puzzle piece next to the other in the correct order.

It was either that he had some sort of supernatural talent for puzzles, or he had done them so many times, he had memorized the position of the pieces.

Mello preferred to believe in the latter.

He took note of the boy's rigid posture and realized that having somebody standing over him, studying him while he worked was probably unnerving. Nevertheless, Mello felt no reason to relive the younger boy of his discomfort, so he allowed the tense atmosphere to continue for a few more drawn out minutes until his rival's (Near's) voice cut through the silence,

"What is it that Mello wants?"

Not knowing how to answer, he shrugged defiantly at the smaller boy's back  
>"Why do I need to explain myself to you?"<p>

He received nothing but silence as an answer.

Mello bit his tongue and continued to observe him, watching as Near took apart and re-assembled his blank puzzle.

Eventually though, Mello felt his patience begin to thin

"How can you be preoccupied in doing this over and over again?"

The albino simply shrugged and responded

"I find it enjoyable"

Mello huffed, and reached for another one of his chocolate bars, only to realize that he had run out.

Giving up on befriending his rival, he decided to sneak into the kitchen for what he believed was a well deserved treat.

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><p><strong>AN -** Death Note is one of my favorite Animes :3! Also, I find Mello and Near to be a very adorable pair :P


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